MY SACRED CHORAL MUSIC – KYRIE ELEISON by Christopher Wright A few words of introduction first, if you will allow me. I was born in 1954 and am a native of Suffolk, where I also live now. My earliest compositions, composed when I was still at school, were Four Short Piano Preludes and a quartet, Kyson Point (named after a local Woodbridge beauty spot), scored for flute, oboe, violin and cello and premiered at an East Anglian New Music Society concert in Ipswich in 1971 – my first public performance. On leaving school, I went on to study music at The Colchester Institute, where I received composition lessons from Richard Arnell. After graduating, I took up various teaching posts in class music, as a peripatetic brass teacher, in both state and independent establishments. I also studied composition with Stanley Glasser at Goldsmiths College (part of London University) and with Nicholas Sackman at Nottingham University. During my years as a schoolteacher, little time was available for composing and only a handful of works materialised, among them Patterns for brass band (1978), String Quartet No. 1 (1980), Armageddon for large orchestra and tape (1980) and a brass quintet subtitled Music for Youth (1977). My first commission came in 1985 from the Cheltenham International Violin Course – my Concertino for Violin Orchestra and Piano. When I left teaching in 1993, the invaluable asset of time gave me space to think, compose and organise performances. The first piece to emerge, in 1994, was a wind quintet with the subtitle ‘...the ceremony of innocence is drowned’ (a line from W. B. Yeats’ 1919 poem ‘The Second Coming’), which was heard both locally and in London, at the British Music Information Centre. It was quickly followed by String Quartet No. 2 (1995), again with both local and BMIC performances. The three decades since then have produced over sixty works in various genres, including four major concertos with orchestra, for oboe (2009), violin (2010), 2 horn (2011) and cello (2011), four more string quartets and, more recently, a Symphony (2015). There are also several shorter orchestral works, many of them recorded, as well as a plethora of chamber pieces. My music has been commissioned by and performed at both the English Music and Alwyn Festivals, and there have been broadcasts on BBC Radio Three and on Australian, Canadian and New Zealand radio. During these years I have had the privilege of working with many leading soloists, orchestras, conductors and other musicians. Much of my music has been composed not as the result of commission or financial inducement but rather because I need to communicate ideas and comment on the world and life in the way that I see it. I am not fettered by fashion, style, ideology or gimmickry or some insatiable desire to be original; I compose what I hear, to the best of my ability. I should like to make a dual dedication of this recording: first, to Ruth, my late wife, who was always a source of support and who longed to hear my choral music; and, second, to Mark Forkgen and his wonderful choir, Canticum, for all their hard work and commitment to this project; without them I should not have experienced the joy and satisfaction of hearing my choral music in the flesh. Thank you. My earliest attempts at composing – from about the age of thirteen – were short choral or hymn-like pieces. None was ever performed, but the desire to compose choral music has remained with me ever since. Over the proceeding fifty or more years, I have continued to write, generating a body of choral music sufficient in size to make this album. The opportunity arose when the London-based choir Canticum, with their conductor Mark Forkgen, gave a concert – the standard of which impressed me enormously – at my local parish church in Woodbridge, Suffolk. I initially inquired of Mark whether he would be interested in performing some of my music. Because only a handful of pieces had ever been sung, I then asked if he would like to make a recording. I need not spell out what his answer was. Composing, for me, is not primarily an intellectual activity, and a score is not in itself music: performance must always be both the primary and ultimate purpose. Unlike visual art or poetry, where the finished article can be appreciated as complete, 3 music requires performance for its life, and only then can it be considered music. I am therefore indebted to Canticum and Mark Forkgen for, quite literally, making music. The works presented here are largely reflective and represent for me a spiritual journey along life’s path and are, in a sense, personal prayers. The texts are drawn from the Bible, the liturgy and a few other sources, and I have supplied my own texts where suitable words could not be found. The order is loosely based on the Church calendar; and the works here have a collective meaning found in the words ‘Kyrie eleison’, expressing God’s merciful love. Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (1993, rev. 1993) This dramatic and joyous setting of the Magnificat 1 has Purcellian references on the word ‘rejoiced’, and syncopated rhythm on the phrases ‘He hath shewed strength’ and ‘scattered the proud’. The Nunc Dimittis 2 is sparsely set, doubling voices at the octave and with poignant use of major ninths on the words ‘salvation’ and ‘prepared’. Three Carols (1975, 1996 and 1998) These three carols were composed independently, over a period of more than two decades. The first, Qui natus est (1996) 3 , with a text taken from The Oxford Book of Carols, consists of two verses sandwiched between three refrains, and deals specifically with Christmas. The Eternal Star (1998) 4 is a mystical setting of words from ‘Our Bethlehem’, by the missionary and clergyman George Appleton (1902–93), from the book One Man’s Prayers, published by SPCK, London, in 1967 (and set, and the text reproduced on p. 12, below, with their kind permission). The writing is sparse, in that it relies on simple adjacent movement of individual vocal lines, creating, I hope, a feeling of mysticism. The Crown of Roses (1975) 5 consists of four strophic verses, with slight variation, with words that combine references to both Christmas and Easter. This text has a rather unusual history. A poem, ‘Roses and Thorns’, by the American poet Richard Henry Stoddard (1825–1903), that was first published in May 1856 in 4 Graham’s Magazine, a periodical based in Philadelphia,1 was then translated into Russian by the radical Russian poet Aleksey Pleshcheyev (1825–93),2 whereupon it was set to music by Tchaikovsky as ‘Legend’, No. 4 of his Sixteen Songs for Children, Op. 54 (all but two of which set Pleshcheyev texts) – in which form it became a choral favourite. In 1913 the English poet Geoffrey Dearmer (1893–1996)3 then translated Stoddard’s poem back into English as No. 21 in The English Carol Book, an anthology he edited with Martin Shaw.4 My own setting reflects in particular the wildness of the text, especially through the use of astringent harmonies. A Penitential Prayer (2005) This short, simple homophonic incantation of pleading 6 was composed in 2005, to a text of my own. It is intended for use in Lent. A particular feature is the unresolved harmonies, creating a sense of pleading, to be resolved only at the very end. Hymn of Salvation (1999, rev. 2010) This anthem 7 starts with the refrain sung three times before each verse, requesting first, forgiveness, then repentance and, lastly, new life. Each verse is different and consists of Jesus’ answers to the requests posed in the refrains. The music widely usesmusica ficta5 to convey a tortuous state and eventually final resolution – Amen. In Memoriam (2001) This piece 8 was composed in memory of my mother and was originally composed with an accompaniment of brass, timpani and strings. The text is selected from the Requiem 1 Its editor, for a brief period from 1841, was Edgar Allan Poe. 2 The Wikipedia entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksey_Pleshcheyev details Pleshcheyev’s stormy life. 3 Dearmer, who lived to be 103, had a considerable influence on British public life, but from behind the scenes: from 1936 until 1958 he was Examiner of Plays for the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, during which time he was also editor of Children’s Hour for BBC Radio (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Dearmer). 4 This ‘First Series’ ofThe English Carol Book, as well as a ‘Second Series’ in 1919 and a ‘Complete Edition’ in 1938, were published by A. R. Mowbray & Co., London. 5 Musica ficta was a method used in mediaeval and Renaissance music to avoid the interval of the augmented fourth by raising or lowering one of the notes, making it a perfect interval – although doing so often created harsh dissonances elsewhere. I have taken the principle and applied it liberally and often in my music to create a sense of unease. 5 Mass and this setting with organ was made in 2016. The form isaba ′, climaxing in the central section on ‘Exaudi orationem meam’. A soprano solo joins the final Kyrie. (Two other versions exist: a shortened version for unaccompanied choir, and the other with organ and string accompaniment setting the full text.) Missa brevis (2009) Although contemporary in style, my Missa brevis looks backwards in essence to the fourteenth century for its texture and soundworld. The intervals of the perfect fourth and fifth feature frequently, as does the sparse sound of voice/octave doubling. Following a rather austere Kyrie 9 , a lively Gloria ensues 10 , with frequent changes in 3 7 5 2 time-signature (4, 8, 8, 4) and adopts a quid-pro-quo style of writing between soprano/ tenor and alto/bass.